Cranking device for automobiles.



J. A. SGHMIDTMEIER.

GBANKINQ DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILES. APPLICATION-FILED SEPT. 7, 1910.

Patented May 30, 1911.

.2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

JfA. SGHMIDTMEIER.

GRANKING DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT, 7, 1910.

Patented May 30, 1911 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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Specification of Letters Eaten-t. Pa hogtied may '36), jifilll.

Application filed September 7, 1910. Serial No. 580,820.

so all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat l, Josnrn A. Sonnrmr- BEER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pendleton, in. the county of Ulnatilla and State of Oregon, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Granking Devices for Automobiles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable'others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relatesin general to automobiles, and more particularly to a can be readily applied to an automobile,"

and which will operate in an efiective 1112\nner to accomplish the desired result.

With these and other objects in view, the

invention consists of novel combinations and arrangements of the parts, as 'will more fully appear as the description proceeds,

reference being had to the followingdescription and accompanying drawings, in which:

' Figure 1 is a top plan View of a safety starting device for motors constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional viewthrough the pulley,

, tional View through the pulley.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawings by the same reference characters.

Specifically describing the present embodiment of the invention, the numeral 1 designates the main frame which may be of any suitable construction, and which is shown in the present instance as'substam tially rectangular in shape. A cross beam and Fig. 5 is a transverse sec-' 2 connects the sides of the frame near one end thereoffand the motor shaft 3 which is disposed longitudinally of the frame is j ournaled in this cross beam and extends through the same, the extremity of the said motor shaft being provided with a ratchet or fixed clutch member 4. A short fixed shaftfi is arranged in alinemcnt with the motor shaft and is mounted between the end of the same and the end of the mainframe 1.- As indi- .cated upon the drawing, the inner end of the fixed shaft 5 is received within a dc- 'pression in the extremity" of the motor shaft,

wl-iile the outer end of the said fixed shaft is provided with some means such as the nut 6 by means of which the shaft can be clamped to theend of the main frame 1 and held securely against turning.

A pulley l is loosely mounted upon the fined shaft 5 andrhasaspiral spring 8 arranged within. the hollow'int-erior thereof, oneendof the, spring being attached to the pulley while the opposite end is secured to.

the fixed shaft 5. This spring serves to return the pulley to normal position after it has been rotated for the purpose of starting the engine, aswill be more fully described. A lever-'9 is pivotally mounted upon one side of. the "pulley 7, and the two arms of this lever are. shown as arranged at angles to each other. One of the arms of the said lever has. a pawl 10 mounted thereon, while the opposite arm of the lever has the ex-. tremit-y thereof extended laterally at 11 and projecting within a recess 12 formed in the pulley. Thislateral arm llis loosely connected to'the inneriend of a link member 13 which is disposed. in a substantially radial direction and projects through an opening "Min 'thelperiphery'of the pulley, the outer end of the saidlink memberfbeing connected to a spring strip 15 which is secured to the periphery of the pulley and normally exerts an outward pull upon the link so as to move the lever 9 in the proper direction for throwing the pawl into operative position. This spring also supplies the necessary resiliency for permitting the pawl to slip over the teeth of the ratchet .lshould the'hootor shaft be rotatingforwardfaster thanthepulley.

Therear end of the pawl 10 is provided with an extension 16 having an opening therein through which aired 17 loosely ex tends, the said rod projecting from the lever and being provided with a coil spring 18.

the periphery of the pulley and is partially This coil springbears against th extension 16 of the pawl and is interpose between the same and a nut 19 threaded'upon the end'of the rod, the tension in .the spring being regulated by adjusting the nut. Through the medium of the spring 18 the pawl 10 is yieldably held against doubling upon itself or performing what istermed jack kniving so as to slide over the .teeth of the ratchet 4 when'the inotor' shaft turningin a backward direction. Under normal conditions the spring 18 holds the pawl in operative',position, but should the engine shaft be forcibly turned in a backward direction by premature sparking, the pawl would double upon itself or 'jack .;knife aspreviously described so asto prevent injury either to, the mechanism or to the operator.

"inoperative position.

A strap 20'has one end thereof secured to directed to the fact that the portion of the strap 20 which .is 'first wound upon the pulley 7 is formed with a slot 24: which receives the outer end of the link member and the spring strip 15 connected thereto so as not: to interfere with action of the said spring strip. This slot 2 1, however, is of such a length that when the parts are in nor mal position and the maximum amount of the strap is wound upon the pulley, the said strap engages both the spri strip 15 and the link 18 so as to force the atter inwardly and swing the lever 9 to move the pawl into The operating lever is shown as pivoted to one of the sides of the main frame 1, and an an ular block 25is secured tothe said side 0 the frame 1 adjacent to the pivot of the operating lever so as to limit the swinging movements thereof in both directions.

quick return of the lever to its original posik tion after being moved to start" the engine,

The lower end of the operating lever 23 is connected to the piston rod 26 of an airpump 27, the end of the said air pump being provided with the arms 28 which are pivotally connected to the main frame 1. This air pump acts as a buffer to prevent a and thereby serves as a safeguard to pre vent injury to the operator.

For the purpose of starting the engine,

ceases the operating lever 23 is grasped and pulled upwardly so as to unwind the strap 20 from the pulley and rotate the said pulley. The initial unwinding of the strap releases the spring .strip 15- so that it draws the link 13 outwardly and moves the lever 9 to throw the pawl into operative position. The en-' gine shaft 3 is-then rotated with the 1pulley in the proper direction for startingt e engine. Should the engine start in the right direction the pawl would slip .over the ratchet, while should a premature sparking cause the engine shaft-to turn backward, the pawl would double upon itself or jack knife so that no injury could result. The air pump 27 acts as an additional safeguard to prevent injury to the operator since all sudden backward movements of the operat- H ing lever are prevented. After the engine has been started, the spiral spring 8 winds the strap upon the pulley 7 and when this .windin is completed the said strap engages the spring 15 and link 13 so as to force the latter inwardly and swing the lever 9 to move the pawl 10 .into inoperative position.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1'. In' astartingdevice for automobiles,

the combination of an engine shaft, a ratchet upon the engine shaft, a pulley, means for 3 rotating the pulley, a lever mounted upon the pulley, 'a pawl pivotally mounted upon the lever and formed with a rearward extension, the said'pawl being designed to engage the ratchet of the engine shaft, means codpera'ting with the lever to hold the pawl in operative position, a rod carried by the lever and having a sliding connection with the extension of the pawl, and a spring upon the rod for engaging -the said extension to hold the-pawl yieldmgly in operative position, the said spring permitting the pawl. to swing into inoperative position should the engine shaft be forcibly rotated in a backward direction by a premature explosion.

2. In a ",the combination of an engine shaft, a ratchet upon the engine shaft, a pulley, a strap wound upon the pulley for turning the same,

starting device for automobiles,

a pawl carried by the pulley for engaging v the ratchet, and means engaged by the strap wound on the pull ey for holding the pawl in inoperative position whenthe starting device is not in use and moving the pawl into an operative position' when the strap is being unwound from the pulley for re tating the same. 4

3. In a starting device for automobiles, the combination of an engine shaft, a ratchet upon the engine shaft, a pulley, a strap wound upon the pulley for turning the same, a pawl carried by the pulley for engaging the ratchet, a spring strip-mounted upon the periphery of the pulley so as to be'compressed against the pulley when the strap is wound and spring away from the pulley when the strap is unwound, and means connected to the spring for moving the pawl into an inoperative position when the device is not in use and moving the pawl into an operativev position when the pulley is rotated by unwinding the strap therefrom.

4. In a startin device for automobiles, the combination 0 an engine shaft, a ratchet upon the engine shaft, a pulley, a lever piv-- otally .mounted upon the pulley, a pawl carried by the lever and designed to engage the ratchet upon the engine shaft, a spring strip upon the periphery of the pulley, connecting means between the spring strlp and the lever whereby the spring strip normally moves the lever to hold the pawl in operative position, and a strap wound upon the pulley forrota'ting the same, the said 'strap'engaging the spring strip and compressing the sa'me'to' swmg the lever and the combination of an engine-shaft, a ratchet movethe pawl into an inoperative position when the device is not in use, and the said spring strip being released by the strap when the strap is unwound from the pulley for rotating the same.

5. In a starting device for automobiles,

upon the engine shaft, a pulley, a lever pivotally mounted upon the pulley, a pawl car-- ried by the lever and designed to engage the ratchet upon the engine shaft, avspring strip secured to the periphery of the pulley,

a link connecting the spring lever whereby. the tends to move the lever to hold the pawl in operative position, and a strap wound strip to the upon the periphery of the pulley for rotatthe said strap engaging the ing the same,

move the pawl into in0p-,

spring strip to spring strip normally erative position when the device'is not in a use, and releasing the spring strip when it is unwound from the pulley for rotating the same.

6. In a starting device for automobiles,-

the combination of an engine -shaft,'a ratchet upon the engine shaft, a pulley, apawl carried-by the pulley for engaging the ratchet, a spring strip upon the periphery-of the pulley, means actuated by the spring strip for normally holding the pawl in operative position, but. for moving the pawl into an inoperative position is compressed against the periphery of the pulley, and a strap wound upon the pulley for rotating the same the inner convolutions of the strap beingslotted soas vnot to interfere with the action of the spring strip while the outer convolution of the strap engages the spring strip to hold the same in a compressed position when the device is not in use.

when the spring strip.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature Witnesses:

Jon. H,- PARKES, A. G. RIDLING.

Copies of this patent may be obtained. for five cents each, by addressing the Washington, D. G.

Commissioner of Patents, 

